Yesterday, I had an endoscopy as planned. I had been having troubles eating regular foods. I could eat them all, but I couldn’t swallow them properly, or without discomfort. They would go down verrrrryyyyy slooowwwwlllly. Eventually, they’d all get down, but it was uncomfortable. I also found that at times, I’d get heartburn more frequently.

Scopes are pretty standard practice to find: blockages, growths, evidence of esophogeal allergies, evidence of celiac disease, ulcers, etc. It turned out there was a blockage of some sort in my esophogus. They couldn’t see anything in there (and I’m told it looked quite healthy!) but when they put a dialter down, they felt a blockage. They used a small balloon to stretch it and that should solve the problems.

I thought I’d use my experience to describe what happens for those of you about to go through it!

First I got changed into a beautifully becoming hospital gown that was just the perfect shade of blue for my eyes.. I had had to fast from the previous night on. Would you want to go down someone’s throat with food in there? YUCK! Anyway, then an IV was inserted and some hydrating solution was dripping into my blood stream. It was actually kind of nice because I hadn’t been allowed any liquids and by this point, I was parched!

I was wheeled into the room and placed onto my left side. There was my GI doc and 2 nurses. One nurse was at my head the whole time. They inserted a sedative into my IV, put a tooth block into my mouth that I had to bite on and then it was off to la-la land. The sedative feels very icy-burny going up the arm. I remember nothing from that moment until I was woken back up.

The GI talked to me for a few minutes about what they did and then I was wheeled out, completely out of it. When you come out of the scope, your throat hurts (kind of like strep throat hurt), and your tummy is huge from the air they pump in to expand everything. You need to be passing gas before you are allowed to leave to make sure you can get all the air out. Under normal conditions, you stay monitored for 30 minutes. If there is anything abnormal – any pain for instance, you usually stay an hour.

And then you go home. But, because of the sedatives, you are considered impaired for 24 hours – no driving, no big decisions about money, and generally no work unless you can work somewhere where it can be laid back. You’re pretty tired for a day or so.

Then, you need to be careful about what you eat. Soft foods are best because it is tender. Miss A helped me make some delicious smelling soup for supper. I hope it tastes as good as it smells!I put in whatever I had on hand:4 cups vegetable broth2 celery stalks chopped3 carrots chopped1 leek chopped3 potatoes choppedAnd I turned it on high on my slow cooker for 4-5 hours. I’ll puree it all when it’s done. And then I’ll eat it with some buiscuits from Jules’ book Free For All Cooking .

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